Vigil, march held in Loop to protest Michael Brown shooting

There is calm on the streets of Ferguson, Mo., and Chicago, one of dozens of cities across the country, where people marched in support for shooting victim Michael Brown.

About 90 cities around the nation held rallies with the chant "no peace, no justice" at most of them. In Chicago, protesters from a variety of backgrounds came out to denounce what happened in Ferguson, Mo., as the president appealed for respect for the law and the right to peacefully speak out.

"We want to stop the racism from the cops and let them know we citizens too and even though we black and we have a different culture than them and they should realize that we didn't do nothing and Mike Brown ain't do nothing," said Dante Brown.

Frustration and anxiety permeated a square named for a Chicago mayor who famously put down protest a generation ago. At 6:20 p.m., there was a moment of silence to remember Michael Brown and others who, it is claimed, lost their lives unjustly.

In Ferguson, Missouri, another night of protest proved more peaceful than what transpired earlier this week. Local police have been replaced by the Missouri Highway Patrol -- led by a black officer -- as the lead agency on the case. Police say Michael Brown got into an altercation with a cop and went for his gun. An eyewitness says Brown was hauled into a squad car even though he had his hands up, and shot.

And as the president asked people to remember we are all part of one American family with shared values, one mom and her daughters drove a long way to give voice to those values.

"I don't care if you have a badge or not, everyone needs to be treating everyone else equally and to be tried equally for murder," said Shannon Tuzzio, of Antioch.

Chicago police presence on the square was muted, but one supervisor told me there were "always enough police out to manage the situation." U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to a parallel investigation of what happened in Ferguson, with a focus on civil rights violations.